Lacoste, USA Network and Doctors Without Borders

[posted June 7th, 2010 at 12:22 am]

New York is a great place to get good deals and support worthy causes at the same time. An example of that occurred on Thursday, June 3rd, with a fantastically organized event. Two great companies partnered together to raise money for Doctors Without Borders. Together, Lacoste and USA Network gave $10 to Doctors Without Borders for every shirt donated at Greeley Square (32nd and 6th Avenue) between 8AM and 6PM. In exchange for the donated shirt, donors received a $50 dollar gift certificate to Lacoste and could take a complimentary pedicab to whichever Manhattan Lacoste store they preferred.

When I arrived at 3:45PM, the line was 5 blocks long.

The whole event was really well done. The process was simple and, actually, rather fun! You stand in line, then enter the park area and get into a smaller line. The park had Doctors Without Borders Aid Workers greeting people, a lively band playing and lots of refreshments.

When you got in front of the line, you received a bracelet with the name of the show that USA Network was promoting called “Royal Pains” about a doctor who does house calls in the Hamptons. The theme of the show gave the network the great idea to promote the show and donate to a wonderful organization. Julie, the amazing woman from Cultureshop who put this together, asked an aid worker what the difference is between a doctor’s office in one of the country’s she’s volunteered in and a Manhattan office. The doctor promptly responded, “Well, in The Congo, I have an AK47 right next to me in my office.” I don’t think I’ve seen any of those in Manhattan!

As you donated the shirt, you received a card, where you wrote your name. The card was tied to the shirt and a $50 Lacoste gift card was given to you, as well as an explanation about where you could use the card.

The shirt was thrown up into a huge donation box. By the time I was there, roughly 5,000 shirts had been donated, so around $50,000 was going to Doctors without Borders.

After your wait, you could step out and grab lemonade and a snack. All in all a successful event in my eyes and another New York experience.

For those of you who would still like to donate a shirt (make sure it has no holes or stains), you can do so through June 20th, 2010 at a Lacoste Boutique store and receive 20% off a regular/full price purchase. It’s a pretty great deal!